Saturna Capital’s Will Jones Quoted in Yahoo Finance

Bellingham, WA, January 17, 2025 – Saturna Capital’s Will Jones, CFA^®, was quoted in a recent Yahoo Finance article about the incoming administration’s potential tariffs and the effect they may have on retailers.

In the piece, Senior Reporter Brooke DiPalma explains that retailers are “buckling down” for potential tariffs that could impact companies reliant on imports from China, Mexico, and Canada. DiPalma cites discount chains such as Five Below and Dollar Tree as those that will be hit hardest, as they rely heavily on imports from China.

Jones provided a counterbalance to the concern, saying that “big box retailers are ‘fairly savvy’ in mitigating impacts and will likely be able to ‘shuffle around’ where their products come from.”

This was supported by Walmart CEO Doug McMillion, who expressed confidence in the chain’s ability to manage the situation but still voiced concern over “customers experiencing higher prices.” While there was varying degrees of confidence about other companies’ ability to manage potential tariffs, the worry about higher prices was a common concern.

“An additional [20%-25% tariff] ... it's huge," Brooks Running CEO Dan Sheridan said on Yahoo Finance's “Opening Bid” podcast, which was also referenced in the article. "To absorb that as a business begins to take investment out of R&D ... We have to pass those on to the consumer and you can't pass a 25% lift in cost completely.”

As Jones noted, retailers will indeed deploy solutions to offset costs from potential tariffs as the new administration enacts its trade policies, though the specifics on both ends are yet to be seen.